Thread: could/could have

How do you say "I could" or "I could have" in Russian ?

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong:
я мог - I could
я мог иметь - I could have

Yet it also depends on how your using it.

I think he is referring to could have as in "I could have bought that jacket!" not "I could have everything I want!"

Then it should be "я мог бы".

Originally Posted by Johnroman

How do you say "I could" or "I could have" in Russian ?

It depends.

In English "I could" can be the past tense of "I can", e.g. "I was able to", or it can be the start of a conditional statement. In Russian these would be rendered differently. We need example of what you are trying to say.

Originally Posted by AmyMariovna

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong:
я мог иметь - I could have

Yet it also depends on how your using it.

No. He means "I could have" in the context of: "I could have gone to the cinema....".

Also иметь is rarely used to mean "to have" as in "to possess".